New paid subscription plans have recently been introduced by mobile carrier FreedomPop, which launched the world's first free mobile service barely four months back.

The announcement of the new paid subscription plans by FreedomPop means that though the carrier will keep offering its completely 'free' plan that includes 200 voice minutes, 500 texts, and 500MB of data, it will also offer a lineup of the new subscription plans starting at $4.58 per month.

However, to avail the $4.58 monthly subscription price - for two years of unlimited voice, text, and voicemail, along with 500MB of data -, users will have to pay the full two-year commitment amount upfront, which is $110. A one-year commitment will cost the users $6.67 per month, requiring the users to pay $80 upfront; while the month-by-month subscription cost will be $10.99.

FreedomPop's paid subscription plans come with certain catches, especially in terms of number of available devices and coverage. With the FreedomPop service having launched the HTC EVO Design handset in October, and later using the Sprint network for completely free phone service, the carrier currently lacks MMS support, and it greatly depends on the consistency of the Sprint data network.

Nonetheless, with FreedomPop claiming that its new paid subscription plans will "destroy the current industry pricing model," the carrier's CEO Stephen Stokols said: "We not only offer 12 months of comparable service for the price of 1 month, but all the billing complexity that frustrates users is gone."